Book People Archive

eBook devices available

I just thought I'd mention that both the Franklin eBookMan and the RCA
Gemstar ebook reader are available on store shelves. My local Staples had
the Franklin gadget and the RCA book I saw at OfficeMax.

This was quite a surprise to me, as the Rocketbook never, ever got to
Raleigh, NC at all.
             
Unfortunately your chances of a decent demo are poor. The Franklin device
looses it's Operating System when it has no batteries in it, so the one at
the store is almost certain to OS-less. The RCA book has a pleasing size
and weight. If you can figure out the contrast control you'll even be able
to see the screen quality. They stole a lot of ideas from the Rocketbook,
everything except the key concept of reading your own text! (You have to
download all your books from vendors, you can't upload your own files.)

I don't think either of these devices has any future, but it's certainly
worth picking one up and fondling it at the store to imagine what the
future might hold. Some combination of features and software from these
two will probably be found in a future successful eBook.

BTW, in a totally different world, a high-tech start up here in Raleigh is
shooting for the medical school textbook market. They were called "Vital
Signs" but I can't locate a URL for them so they may changed names. At any
rate the idea was to cut a deal with both the publishers and the medical
school professors to bundle all the curriculum material some sort of super
interactive DVD disk-like format. Students would then be required to
purchase this disk, which would expire after graduation. Professors would
contribute their own material to replace the course notes students would
ordinarily have to buy, as well as the medical books of course.

The key elements are that the students at a given medical school would all
have to buy one, and this company would help translate the Professor's raw
imagery and text into a multi-media digital format.

I suspect that other industries have similar eBook projects in the works
as well. Maybe these niche markets will come to fruition before the more
general markets...

Charles Hall
Raleigh, NC